|
Joe Flacco may never silence all his critics, but he showed why the Ravens have so much faith in him: He is a winner who elevates his play when all the chips are on the table.
Joe Flacco wins all the time, but somehow, in the court of popular pigskin opinion, he may never win.
Flacco has won 61 games in his first five years in the NFL, including the playoffs, which is more than any other quarterback. Early in his career, he often played a secondary role in the outcome of those games. But all those national analysts who still think it is a smothering defense and a stout running game that is carrying the Ravens to all of these wins clearly aren't paying attention. No, Joe Flacco is not a perfect quarterback. He can be maddeningly inconsistent. His accuracy is spotty at times. He sometimes gets lost in the pocket. And while I am cool with his laid-back demeanor, some perceive that as a flaw. But it blows my mind that still today, few quarterbacks are scrutinized nationally more than Flacco. His critics were silenced Saturday -- and a few more will jump on the Flacco bandwagon, about 12 months too late.
Simply put, Flacco balled out against the Denver Broncos. He dropped a bomb on them in the first quarter, lofting a deep throw over the head of cornerback Champ Bailey, a future Hall of Famer, to wide receiver Torrey Smith for a 59-yard touchdown. He connected with Smith again in the second quarter on a 32-yard touchdown. And with his season -- and the career of Ray Lewis -- on the line, Flacco stunned the Broncos by launching a prayer over the head of rookie safety Rahim Moore, who took a bad angle to the ball and then mistimed his leap, into the hands of Jacoby Jones, who ran it in for a game-tying 70-yard score. Flacco completed 18 of 34 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns as the Ravens won in double overtime, 38-35. Flacco's only major mistake was fumbling a botched snap from center Matt Birk.
Yes, I picked the Broncos to win this game, but I also predicted that Flacco would play well, and I have the blog posts and Tweets to show it. Flacco won me over last year with how he played in the AFC title game, which is why I didn't rip him when he played poorly at times this season (like the first time around against the Broncos). I don't know when the transformation occurred, but Flacco went from a young kid who underwhelmed in the playoffs to a grown man who elevates his play in the clutch. He couldn't care less about his individual numbers during the regular season, which is why he may never be viewed as one of those "elite" quarterbacks in the eyes of some analysts. But his postseason stats the past two years are eye-popping, and they are proof that the Ravens are winning because of Flacco and not in spite of him. In his past four playoff games, Joe Flacco has piled up 1,095 passing yards and nine touchdowns, while throwing just one interception. That's a big-boy playoff passer rating of 107.5, folks.
When Jones dropped that pass on third down in the middle of the fourth quarter -- it wouldn't be a Ravens playoff game without a critical drop, would it? -- I couldn't help but think of the times that his wide-outs let him down in past years. Would Flacco be perceived differently if Anquan Boldin or T.J. Houshmandzadeh finished off plays in the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers two years ago? And what about the drop by Lee Evans in last year's AFC championship game? Would Flacco have been mocked during his low points in the regular season -- one New York writer compared him to Kyle Boller in a Tweet to me back in October -- if Evans had caught that pass and Flacco had taken the Ravens to the Super Bowl? Anyway, it doesn't really matter now. Flacco once again has the Ravens in the AFC championship game.
Since Flacco is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this spring, I'm obligated to say that Flacco made himself a lot of money Saturday. And maybe he did. But the reality is that he isn't going anywhere and he never was going anywhere in the first place. The Ravens would be crazy to pull the plug on Flacco after five seasons, especially without giving him a chance to step out of the shadow of Cam Cameron's ego. The Ravens aren't crazy. They know what they have in Flacco -- a strong-armed quarterback who might just be on the verge of greatness -- and the real challenge all along has been finding a price that makes Flacco happy while still allowing the Ravens to build a contending team around him. No, Flacco can't do it all alone. But when he gets a little help from his friends, like he did Saturday night, Flacco can carry this team. Will he carry them back to the Super Bowl next weekend? (Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. /January 12, 2013)
To a man, the Ravens said that they didn't care who their opponent would be Sunday in the AFC championship game.
Perhaps, they were too exhausted and emotionally drained from having played a four-hour, 16-minute game to give it much thought. Perhaps, they simply couldn't decide, knowing that they would have a score to settle either way. Maybe they were riding with so much momentum and confidence, following one of the best victories that any of them had ever experienced, that it just didn't matter.
Regardless, the uncertainty of where they'll be Sunday was replaced this evening by the reality that they'll get another shot against the New England Patriots with a Super Bowl berth on the line. A day after the Ravens secured an exhilarating and exhausting 38-35 victory over the top-seeded Denver Broncos at frigid Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the Patriots moved on with a commanding 41-28 win over the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.
The Ravens and Patriots will kickoff at 6:30 Sunday in a rematch of a late September regular-season game and last year's AFC championship. The Ravens beat the Patriots, 31-30, at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 3 of the season, but undoubtedly, much of the talk this week will be about the playoff matchup last January and the visitors trying to avenge one of their most bitter defeats in team history.
The Patriots won, 23-20, in a game defined by wide receiver Lee Evans' dropped pass and kicker Billy Cundiff's missed field goal. In the days following the gut-wrenching loss, the Ravens talked about how difficult it would be to get back to a point where they are one game away from the Super Bowl.
Here they are a year later after a regular season in which they lost several key performers to injuries, fired their offensive coordinator following their 13th game and dropped four of their past five contests heading into the playoffs.
"We just have to keep moving forward," Ravens safety Bernard Pollard said after Saturday's game. "This is a blessing. We're just excited to be moving forward [but] it won't mean nothing if we don't win."
For the Ravens, the victory earned them back-to-back AFC championship game berths for the first time in team history. For coach John Harbaugh, it marked the third time his team will play for the conference championship in his five seasons at the helm.
"This is, in its own right, incomparable," Harbaugh said. "We've never been through anything quite like this, but that's how life is. No two moments are ever exactly the same. This has been pretty incredible and unexplainable. I'm just very humble and grateful. It's really hard to get into these spots and have the opportunity to do this."
How hard? Harbaugh had just watched his team defeat the Broncos when rookie Justin Tucker connected for a 47-yard field goal one minute and 42 seconds into the second overtime. The game-winning kick ended the fourth longest game in NFL history.
In the game, the Ravens allowed an NFL-postseason record two return touchdowns to Trindon Holliday, three Peyton Manning touchdown passes and overcame four different Broncos' leads. They also needed a 70-yard Joe Flacco touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones, who inexplicably got behind the Broncos' secondary in the last minute, to force overtime.
The comeback had running back Ray Rice declaring the Ravens a "team of destiny" and predicting that Flacco, who outplayed Peyton Manning in the game, was going to lead the team to the Super Bowl. Middle linebacker Ray Lewis, meanwhile, cried after the win, which assured that his 17th NFL season will last one more week. Lewis has said that he'll retire following the end of the year.
"I think we are special just by what we've been through all year, injury-wise," said Lewis, who has 30 tackles in two games since returning from a torn right triceps. "For the first half last week, that was the first time me, Terrell Suggs, Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata actually played together because of the injuries we've dealt with. So as a team, what we've done is the reason why we're here now."
After the Patriots put the finishing touches on the Texans, Torrey Smith said on his Twitter feed; "Looks like we are heading north … THIS IS THE REMATCH."
"It's kind of weird that we're back," Smith said following Saturday's victory in which he beat perennial All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey for two first-half touchdown passes. "Just talking to guys around the league, it's not a guarantee to even be in the playoffs. We're spoiled to be in the playoffs this many years in Baltimore. To have the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl and be one game away, that's another way of being spoiled. We're still in it."
The Patriots, who piled up 457 yards of offense to beat the Texans and got three touchdowns from reserve running back Shane Vereen, have won 10 of their past 11 games with the exception being a loss to San Francisco three weeks ago. The 49ers, coached by Jim Harbaugh, will play in the NFC championship game Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.
However, the Patriots' victory over the Texans came with a cost as star tight end Rob Gronkowski re-injured his left forearm and is out for the rest of the playoffs.
The Ravens will be playing at Gillette Stadium for the third time in the past four postseasons. They are 1-1 in those games, but the last one is certainly still in the back of their minds.
"We fought hard to get back to this point," said Flacco, who threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to the Patriots last January. "We are definitely proud of being here, and we feel like it is going to take a lot for someone to come and kick us off that field come the AFC championship game. We are going to give it our all and we know what it felt like last year. We walked off that field without that win. We know what we've put in to get back to point. It's going to be a great game."
twitter.com/jeffzrebiecsun
Text TERPS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Terps sports text alerts
